Rinku Sen wrote this article for Colorlines and it is published here with permission.

Much of the discussion this election cycle has been about changing demographics.

If we keep doing our work, if we keep fighting, the collective understanding will deepen in ways that make some real breakthroughs possible.

Black voters turned out overwhelmingly for Obama. Millennial voters,
who represent the start of the next demographic phase, did too.
Republicans are blaming each other for losing the Latino vote; Steve
Schmidt, head of McCain’s 2008 campaign, told MSNBC this was the last
election that someone could possibly win without getting a good portion
of Latinos, which of course Governor Romney didn’t. Mike Huckabee said
Republicans have done a terrible job of reaching out to people of color,
while DREAMers are claiming credit—and I’ll give it to them—for forcing POTUS’s hand to deliver the Deferred Action executive order, which in
turn delivered him many Latino votes.

But demographics alone aren’t going to run a policy agenda through
the system. It’s not like we, people of color, can just exist and, as a
result, lead politicians to pass helpful policies simply by asking. Huge
challenges remain in economic justice, immigration, environment,
education and housing reform. The nation’s understanding of what it will
take to generate racial, economic and gender equity remains shallow,
focused largely on how new constituencies threaten the old white way, per Bill O’Reilly.

But if we keep doing our work, if we keep fighting, that collective
understanding will deepen in ways that make some real breakthroughs
possible.

Voting yesterday, I paid more attention than I usually do. My polling
place is a school gymnasium around the corner from my apartment in Rego
Park, Queens. There were about 20 voters and as many poll workers at
9:30 a.m. The mood was hushed—serious but not solemn. People smiled at
each other. Many older voters of all colors, though heavy on the Eastern
Europeans as is the neighborhood. The poll workers were diverse, and
there were interpreters for Hindi, Chinese, and Spanish. A smiling woman
in a suit posed for a picture and I thought “new immigrant voter.” It
was different from 2008, when Election Day had the “historic” mantle.
Yesterday, I felt like I was doing an everyday kind of thing with my
neighbors, not so glamorous as the last time but just as important. To
be honest, I don’t find elections the most compelling form of political
activity, and I often vote with a feeling of being on auto pilot.

But over the last few months, I’ve been influenced by my friend
Judith Browne-Dianis. Browne-Dianis is the director of the Advancement
Project, which has been doing stellar work to protect the vote, as it
does every election season. Every time she talks about voter
suppression, I see her calling up childhood memories of going with her
mother to the polls. I see her acknowledging her elders for making sure
she’d be able to vote in the first place. I see her putting on notice
anyone who dares attempt suppression on her watch. Her passion for a
fair democracy has been reinforced by our own Voting Rights Watch project, which has me all agitated about that suppression, too.

The last four years have taught
me that presidents matter, but movements matter more.

The way the voting rights community has come together with groups
like Color of Change, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and Take
Action Minnesota has been astounding in the sheer volume of resistance,
monitoring, problem-solving and communication. My social media feeds
made it clear that people were looking after each other at the polls.
The memes of this election for me will always be “stay in line!” and
“don’t let anyone tell you you can’t vote!”

And that’s the message I take into today. Stay until it’s done, and
don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. The last four years have taught
me that presidents matter, but movements matter more.

Politicians, and
everyday Americans, too, do great things when movements make it
impossible to do anything else. The tone and energy that went into
preventing voter suppression, combined with the tone and energy of my
polling place this morning, is what we need to ride for the next four
years. It is an outraged, urgent force that changes how we look at
things, combined with a respectful inclusiveness that enables everyone
to participate.

Interested?

In some places around the country, efforts to suppress the vote are
being shot down. Read on to hear about the good news this election day,
and check back later for updates.

First Nations author and activist Winona LaDuke ran for vice president
twice on the Green Party ticket. Here’s why she’s supporting Barack
Obama this time around.

We—not just the president—have to be the agents of change in our
society. How do we extend our electoral organizing beyond the elections?

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Rinku Sen is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and the publisher of Colorlines.com.